El que sonrie cuando el mundo se quema
by LovingthesuninSA
Summary: Leo and Nico end up on watch together, and though it's kind of an accident it's mostly because Leo figured a case of freaky-deakies was better than a case of seventh weel-dom. But now, Di Angelo turns out to be more than ok; freaky-deakies turn to freaky feelings, and the fact that half the Argo 2 seems to ship them isn't helping. How the Hades is Leo meant to survive this again?
1. Chapter 1

**Oh, Hades, I'm such an idiot, I'm not even finished with my other story. Well, it's too late now, so enjoy chapter one of the Valdangelo feels.  
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"Nico."

_Ignore him. He'll go away eventually._

"Nicoo."

_Don't respond._

"Nicoooooo."

_Concentrate on the book._

"Neeeeeecoooooooooooo."

_Shut him out, he's just bored. He'll bore of you too eventually._

"Neeks!"

_THAT'S IT._

With a growl, Nico slammed the book shut, turning to face the hyperactive pyromaniac next to him. "What. Is. It." The son of Hades grit out, putting all the evil aura he could into it.

To his satisfaction it worked, and Leo flinched, as the temperature of the room lessened by several degrees. "N-nothing, I was just mghrmmrmr..." He trailed off awkwardly.

Nico mentally sighed of relief and prepared to turn away, but that _stupid_ part of him that remained the old Nico was too curious to let it slide.

Groaning, he turned towards the Spaniard yet again. "_What_?" "I just wanted to ask if you'd take watch with me," Leo said almost shyly, before continuing: "Not that you have too, but between all the couples and being on my own I figured-oh, nevermind." The Ghost Prince stared as he looked away, then caught them both by surprise by answering: "Sure. Whatever."

Leo, startled, looked at him in confusion while Nico looked back, equally confused. Then he grinned. "Cool! See ya then, broski!" He jumped up and rushed out, nearly knocking Piper over as he ran.

–-

She entered the dark room hesitatingly, noticing that Nico had taken down most of Percy's belongings and stowed them away. He looked at her sceptically, dark eyes cryptic. Piper felt uneasy around him, to be honest. He was the only one on board who's feelings she couldn't read, and she had a feeling her charmspeak wouldn't work on him. It was no surprise she always felt a bit vulnerable around the admittedly younger demigod. As usual, the boy was radiating a wall of hostility, masking any other feelings he might've had.

"Mind if I sit?" She asked tentatively. He nodded, putting his book away with regret- his quiet afternoon of solitude had been interrupted. Damn Leo Valdez. "What is it?" He asked then, trying to not look ready to murder her. "I was just, um, thinking maybe we could talk about the others." Piper said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. _What? Why the hell- _"Why would you want to do that?" Nico questioned, glaring. _Is she trying to trick me into saying I hate everyone or? _The daughter of Aphrodite flushed, then explained: "I, well, I can read feelings and stuff, right, and you can read-" "When people are gonna die?" Nico snapped, enjoying the way she paled. "N-no, I meant thoughts." He frowned. So she had noticed. "I can't read thoughts. Just some vague ideas sometimes. Mostly fears." The Italian clarified. Her eyes softened, and Nico was suddenly and fleetingly reminded of another pair of brown eyes gazing kindly at him.

His throat clammed up and he looked away, stung. "Listen, Piper. I appreciate the question, and I honestly think it could be a good idea to discuss the crew and organize some kind of bonding or whatever. But at the moment I seriously just want to sleep." Though the girl looked surprised, she seemed content with the deal, and nodded, hesitating as she looked at him. "Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow morning. And Nico? You need the rest, ok, so please do sleep."

She left silently, closing the door after her, and the son of Hades felt a weight settle on his shoulders. Sleep...Of course he'd like some rest, what did she think? Strangely enough, he wasn't really happy with his current skeleton-like situation.  
Sleep was impossible, however, as was eating. After the forced stay in that dreaded jar, not only did food make him feel sick, but he was scared of going to sleep. There was of course the fear of not waking up, but mostly, it was the nightmares.

Nico had been a child of war, and even all the way back, nightmares had been his weak point. First it was just war, then his mother came into them, then the monsters. He'd have been fine if Bianca-

If Bianca hadn't-

Died.

But Bianca had, he reminded himself fiercely, and so she was ever present in his dreams, dying and agonizing and blaming him and reminding him of just why he was so despicable. Her death, and their mother's death, and _Percy_, and how disgusting that was, on an infinite broken record.

Even then, Nico could've been all right. He was, after all, a child of the big three, a naturally strong person, with that mental force they seemed to share. He'd have pushed on, broken but ok, kind of, especially with Hazel, and then Tartarus had happened.

Tartarus had killed him. Once, twice, thrice, too many times to count. On his own in the deepest, darkest pits of Hell, Nico had pleaded with every deity he knew, been ready to sacrifice anything, just to get _out._ He hadn't gotten out.

Physically, yes. Mentally, no. Though he'd been slowly, ever so slowly reconstructing tiny fragments of Nico, most of him was lost down there, and another part with Percy. Nico's only night of sleep so far had consisted in Percy and Annabeth dying over and over, just like he had, and finally giving in, fading, joining Bianca in his Greek chorus of self-hate. Then they'd dragged him down with them, back into Tartarus, back, back, back-

Ofcourse Nico wouldn't sleep.

–-

**Siggghhhh.**

**Why do I do this to myself?**

**Review, please?**


	2. Chapter 2

To his utter shock, Nico did fall asleep in the afternoon, exhaustion having overtook him for once. He woke up as usual, covered in sweat and screaming into his sheets to try and not disturb anyone else. The dark haired boy took several shaky breaths before standing up on unsteady legs and heading towards the window. Outside, it was dark. After consulting his watch, the demigod realised he'd slept until six, which was good because he wouldn't have to sleep tonight- three hours sleep was a total score for him.

He ran a hand through his messy locks, then went to the door. Right, he was on guard duty. With Leo Valdez. Nico gave a little sigh. He didn't _really _have anything against Leo, but the boy simply rubbed him the wrong way. Always making jokes, most of which a little too mean for Nico to endure, and just generally not his type of person. Yeah, it was fine if the other person joked back (Piper and Jason, for example), but Nico tended to clam up or to answer seriously, which had made their relationship turn antagonistic very quickly.

On the other hand, he supposed they worked well together; during the fight Leo had been the only one to immediately understand Nico's train of thought, and on professional grounds they were a good team. In everyday life, however, Leo was a bit of a jerk and Nico had too many walls up.

If he had to be honest with himself, he'd admit he partly didn't like the guy because he was a lot like Nico had been. Both orphans, both eternal optimists, and possessing way too much energy. But Nico had endured Bianca's death; and that Nico was gone. Hazel helped, because she understood, but really the fourteen year old had already seen too much to ever recover.

Well, no use sitting around thinking about death and sorrow, because he did that a lot. Might as well go and join Leo "energy-ball' Valdez on the deck. The Italian opened his door and walked out. Bad decision. He was immediately knocked over by the howling tempest that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Cursing, he pushed himself up and trudged forwards and out to the engine room.

The wind was still pushing back, and he felt tears stream down his cheeks from the cold. Shit, Hazel had said a storm was coming...He didn't count on it happening so soon; though it admittedly explained the wonky feeling of his room. Nico pulled out his sword, using it as a sort of ski pole as he battled the wind. He finally arrived next to the engine room, where Leo, mask covering his face, was cheerfully making the most noise humanly possible.

Nico wasn't sure what the stuff in his hands was, but they sounded like a dying cat mixed with bongo drums. "Valdez." he hissed in annoyance, tapping the Latino on the shoulder. He whipped around, hands flying to his belt; before relaxing. "HEY, DI ANGELO! READY FOR WATCH?" he yelled over the din, effectively destroying what was left of Nico's eardrums.

In response, the son of Hades slammed his fist down on Leo's arm, making him yelp and drop the infernal tools. He felt like sobbing happily as the noise ceased. "Hey! What was that for?!" Leo asked, annoyed. "Well, firstly I kind of needed you to stop destroying my ears, and secondly you might want to take of your mask." the Italian drawled sarcastically. The son of Hephaestus glared, before observing, surprised: "Have you been _crying_?" Nico scowled, yanking his mask off and exposing him to the wind. "Holy mother of Persephone!" Leo yelped, covering his face with one hand, while grabbing at his tools with the other. "Get inside!"

Nico stumbled after him as he grabbed his things and leaped inside the room with an melodramatic cry. "What are you even working on?.." the so-called Ghost Prince muttered, blinking to clear his blurry eyes. "Oh, just these little figurines." Leo shrugged. "I was bored so I started a little collection." "They look like Mythomagic ones." Nico said softly, looking at the little action figurines dressed in various types of clothes. The other teen chuckled a bit guiltily. "Yeah, I may or may not have based the idea off those." "No, no, I like them. They're cool." the Italian stated absent-mindedly, eyes catching onto a pretty girl with long black tresses and a bow. "Who's that?" Leo turned, then answered: "Oh, that. Not sure. I was going for an Artemis-y feeling then it kinda changed. You like her?" Nico eyed the girl.

"Yeah." His voice was quiet, but Leo heard it anyway. "Dude, you can have her if you like. I'm totally gonna make a hundred before I get bored. We can call her, like, Beatrice, and she can be some badass Hunter or some-" He broke off as Nico's eyes glistened, while the Italian suddenly wished they were outside again- at least then he'd have an excuse to look teary-eyed. And then it clicked.

"Oh, shit, man! Wasn't your sister- Oh, Aphrodite- I really didn't- I mean-" Leo stuttered, looking horrified. Shit shit shit shit! Hazel had told him about her, about _Bianca_, the Hunter, and this looked like-!

"Shut up, Valdez." Nico said gruffly, ostentatiously turning his back towards the figurines. "We're supposed to be on watch, remember?" Shifting his sword, he headed to the door. "Come on. The wind isn't going to disappear." "Right." Leo said, following him with a mental _thanks. _He didn't work well with lifeforms in general, and emotional lifeforms were the worst.

Far away, in the pearly white palaces of Olympus, a beautiful young woman with ever-changing features opened one lazy eye and smirked. "Oh, Leo. It's never a good idea to summon a goddess in vain."

–-

**Short chapter, sorry, I'll update ASAP, I'm just really really busy at school **

**x**

**Fred**

**(Reviews make me write, btw)**


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